Power converters are used to convert input electrical energy from one form to another for driving a load. One form of power conversion system is a motor drive, which may be employed for variable speed operation of an electric motor load. Multilevel inverters such as Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverters are sometimes employed in motor drives and other power conversion systems to generate and provide high voltage drive signals, with individual power cells or power stages being connected in series. Each stage provides a separate DC source and is driven by switch signals to generate positive or negative output voltage, with the series combination of multiple stage outputs providing multilevel inverter output capability for driving the load at variable speeds and torques.